Wrong Exit: Nick Stryker Series, Book Four

by Vicki Graybosch

  ******

  Kevin and Darla followed Jen through the maze of treatment rooms to the one Sharon was in. Sharon jumped from the side of the bed and gave Kevin a big hug. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Sharon’s eyes moved to Darla. “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. You must be Kevin’s girlfriend.”

  Darla reared her head back. “You still on drugs? I ain’t his girlfriend, you are!”

  Kevin sputtered something unintelligible at Darla and Sharon asked, “Kevin?”

  Kevin regained his composure. “Sharon, this is Darla, a new friend of mine. She’s been helping me all day to try and find you. I’ve been worried sick!”

  Sharon kissed Kevin’s cheek and snuggled in as Kevin embraced her in a hug. “I’m so sorry I messed up your big story. Some reporter I turned out to be.”

  Kevin gently pushed her from him. “Are you kidding me? This is the biggest story ever. You’re going to write the story of a lifetime! I’ll help you put it together but you are going to be famous.” Kevin lowered his voice. “You know why they kidnapped you, don’t you?”

  Sharon glanced at Jen talking to the patrol officer in the hall. She lowered her voice. “All the police told me was that I was a victim of a carjacking kidnap team. They didn’t really tell me all that much.”

  Kevin whispered, “They were going to take all of your organs and sell them!”

  Sharon fainted.

  Kevin held her up by her arm pits and he and Darla plopped her back on the bed.

  Darla glanced at Kevin. “You might have worded that a little better.”

  ******

  Nick pulled up to the front entrance of J.T.’s nightclub and parked. He saw two security men at either corner of the building and one standing at the main door. He walked up to the door, flashed his badge and asked, “J.T. here?”

  The man responded, “You can’t take weapons in the building.”

  Nick raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I can. Is J.T. inside?”

  The man puffed his chest out and squared up to Nick. “I have to call him.”

  Nick side stepped him, pushed open the door and said, “You do that.”

  The man grabbed Nick’s shoulder to stop him. Nick spun and landed a chop to the side of the man’s neck with his right hand. He pulled the pistol from the guard’s waistband with his left hand as the man fell to the pavement. Nick shoved the guard’s pistol in his own waistband and walked into the building. A quick glance of the surroundings and he spotted J.T.’s special glassed-in booth. J.T. was there, watching him.

  Nick heard boots charging up behind him and spun around. All three guards from outside rushed in. Patrons and staff scattered as the three men charged Nick. In seconds, Nick had all three of them on the floor moaning. He looked at J.T.’s booth and shrugged. J.T. waved him over.

  One of the men on the floor answered his cell phone and gestured the other men to back off. Nick climbed the short staircase to J.T.’s booth and sat across from him in the deep leather cushion.

  “Nice joint.”

  J.T. smiled. “Detective Stryker. It’s been at least a year since our last meeting. It seems you brutalized some of my men back then, too. I’m surprised to see you at this kind of club. Did you come to check out the ladies? I thought you were engaged to that beautiful brunette… Lacey Star?”

  Nick’s skin crawled hearing J.T. mention Lacey’s name. It was a power play. A not-so-veiled threat that J.T. knew Nick’s loved ones and could cause them harm.

  “I came to thank you for the painting. You shouldn’t have.” Nick could tell that J.T. had kept himself in good form. He was a skilled fighter by reputation. He and Nick had yet to come to blows.

  J.T. smiled, “So you know about the painting? You’re quicker than I expected.”

  “Why send it to me? Why have three people come to the precinct and confess to murdering me? You knew I’d finger you sooner or later.”

  J.T. swirled the straw in his drink. “Well, I wasn’t sure. What tipped you off?”

  Nick leaned forward. “I’ll ask the questions for a while. How did you meet up with Sanford?”

  “He called me. Wanted me to buy some software program that could control minds. He needed the money for some surgery or something.”

  Nick was surprised at J.T.’s candor. “So you bought it?”

  J.T. smiled. “I’m not stupid. The program won’t work. It can’t be done as far as I could find out. I designed a couple of beta tests with Sanford that involved you. They were harmless exercises that would expose the program’s flaws but maybe get your interest peaked. I assumed that once you figured out the program existed, you could get it off the streets. Sounded dangerous in the wrong hands. Just doing my civic duty.” J.T. finished off his drink and pushed the glass to the center of the table. “Do you want a drink?”

  “No, thanks.” Nick wasn’t buying J.T.’s sudden urge toward civic duty, but he also watched carefully as J.T. spoke. His body language and demeanor suggested that he wasn’t worried or feeling guilty.

  Nick asked, “How did Sanford find you?”

  J.T. paused before answering, “He said my number had been given to him by a business associate. Lucas Costellano.”

  “How do you know Costellano?” Nick noticed a quick twitch of J.T.’s upper lip.

  “Only by reputation. I dare say he’s probably not one of my fans…which was another reason not to get involved with Sanford.”

  Nick saw Agent Phillips enter the building and flash his badge at the doorman. J.T. saw him too. “Well, well. Seems I’m popular tonight with the law.”

  The doorman pointed to J.T.’s booth. Phillips looked up and frowned. He walked up the stairs and stood in the doorway glaring at Nick. “Have you thanked the man for his present?”

  Nick stood and made a gesture for Phillips to take the seat he was vacating. “I did. It seems Mr. Barrimore was simply concerned Sanford’s program could end up in the wrong hands. He was warning me.”

  Phillips looked at J.T. and smiled. “That’s a load of bullshit and we all know it.” Phillips remained standing. “I want the last three hours’ camera feed on this joint, including the parking lot.”

  J.T. fished in his pocket for a flash drive, unlocked a drawer under the booth and retrieved a laptop. He plugged in the flash drive and began an upload. “No problem, I always cooperate with my FBI friends. What are you looking for, if I might ask?”

  “Derrick Sanford.”

  ******

  Nick left the nightclub and headed to the precinct. He had put off going there until evening to avoid running into any Internal Affairs officers. Explaining the events of the day was going to be time consuming.

  Wayne looked up from his desk and leaned back in his chair. “Have you looked in a mirror lately? Your sleeves are torn and it looks like blood on your pants.”

  Nick looked down, “Not mine.” Nick started removing cell phones from his jacket pockets and placed them on Wayne’s desk. “Any chance I can talk you into helping me organize some of this?”

  Wayne smiled, “I’ve been waiting for you to call me for backup. I’d rather play with phones than get shot.”

  Nick started pushing phones toward Wayne. “This is Sharon Perez’s phone we found at the carjacking site. This is the ambulance passenger’s phone, Sharon drugged him to escape. This is the ambulance driver’s phone, he’s back in holding. This is Sal Cutler’s phone, he’s also in holding.” Nick held the last one up. “This is Antonio Scalla’s phone, the Sunrise Hospital Administrator. He’s in the D.A. lockup.”

  Wayne labeled evidence tags as Nick described them. He looked up and smiled, “You’ve been busy.”

  Nick tossed his torn suit jacket in the wastebasket next to the chair and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He glanced at Wayne’s white board. “Can we change your board? Wait…I probably need a second board anyway. I’ll go get the Chief’s.”

  Wayne held up an index finger. “You might want to check that he’s gone before yo
u go down that hall.”

  Nick grinned. “Use my name in vain, did he?”

  Wayne grinned back. “We moved way past vain. That was just the warm-up.”

  Nick turned left at the end of the hall and saw the Chief at his desk on the phone. The Chief saw him instantly and stood up. He waved Nick to come in. He was not smiling.

  Nick entered the room and closed the door behind him. The Chief pointed to the chair across from his desk. Nick sat.

  The Chief mouthed ‘Mayor’s office’ and frowned as he listened to his caller. “I appreciate your position, Sir. As soon as I have been briefed on the status of this case I’ll call you.” The Chief rolled his eyes. “I am aware of the time, Sir. Yes, I have your number. Thank you, Sir.”

  The Chief ended the call and stared at Nick for a moment. “Does my voice seem higher to you tonight? My balls are suddenly in a poker-hot vice.”

  Nick squirmed in his seat as a sympathetic gesture. “Let me hazard a guess… your balls have something to do with me?”

  A flash of anger passed over the Chief’s face and was quickly replaced with a sudden outburst of laughter. “Damn it, Stryker! Bring me up to speed.”

  Nick spent the next twenty minutes giving the Chief a blow by blow accounting of the day beginning with the discovery of the body bags at the brewery and ending with the arrest of Tony Scalla. The Chief had been taking notes and looked up. “I’m confused…what does all of this have to do with the three people that came in here and claimed to have murdered you?”

  Nick explained that they were victims of a software program designed to hypnotize people into dissociative stages and manipulate their actions.

  Nick said, “The developer of the software, Dr. Derrick Sanford, sold the program to raise the money for his daughter’s transplant surgery at Sunrise Hospital. She was shot tonight…probably by someone hypnotized to shoot Sanford.”

  The Chief rubbed his temples and moaned.

  Nick added, “The FBI wants the software case but that case has some of my players. I want them all.”

  “Of course you do.” The Chief pushed his chair back and exhaled. “Where’s Jen?”

  “She’s arranging a safe place and security for Sharon Perez. Lucas Costellano is probably just now finding out that we have her. She heard her kidnappers use the name ‘Lucas’, twice. She also picked out Antonio Scalla from a photo lineup as being the man that took a skin sample from her arm and injected her with drugs. I can’t make these cases without her.”

  The Chief shook his head. “You see it all in this job but I think this takes the cake. How many missing persons have you tied to the cars at the dump site? Twelve?” He rolled his neck and sighed. “Tomorrow we’ll have the press all over us.” He pointed at Nick. “You’ll have to spend some time with Internal Affairs. We have multiple incident reports of officer involved shootings. Most of them are you! I’ll do my best to pressure them for speed. You’re in the middle of this…they can have you at the end.”

  “Thanks Chief.” Nick stood and walked to the door and then turned, “Chief? There’s a motorcycle that needs to be replaced.”

  “I heard. The owner stopped in to say he wants the old one back, too. He plans to put it in a Plexiglas box in his man cave. Wants to know if you’ll sign the gas tank.”

  Nick grabbed the Chief’s white board, pushed it through the door and grinned. “I need this.”

  ******

  J.T. watched as Agent Phillips left the nightclub. Phillips didn’t mention that the FBI had received the tip from Lucas that he had bought the software program from Sanford. Of course Lucas wouldn’t have identified himself. Phillips had no reason to come to the nightclub without the tip. Lucas was probably feeling smug. J.T. knew that feeling wouldn’t last. By now, the FBI had probably found the transfer of funds from Lucas to Sanford. Now, they would want Sanford and Lucas, not him.

  J.T. smiled as he signaled the waiter for another drink. Too bad they would never find Sanford. Lucas was going to face serious trouble with the Family. The level of attention that Sunrise Hospital was garnering would be enough to put Lucas on the wrong list. Soon, the FBI linking Lucas to this software program would finish him off.

  C H A P T E R 23

  Lucas instructed his driver to take the shortest way back to his home. What had started out a promising date, listening to Buddy Guy at Legends, had ended poorly. Now all he could think about was a vodka and a relaxing swim in his pool.

  His cell rang. The caller I.D. wasn’t showing. “Yes?”

  “Lucas? This is Alderman Miles. What’s this shit about Tony being arrested and the hospital on lockdown?”

  ******

  J.T.’s cell rang. He was just leaving the nightclub for home. It was the Family calling.

  “This is J.T.”

  “Are you aware of the problems with Lucas’ operation today?”

  J.T. had to be careful with his answer. If he admitted to knowing, he would have to explain not warning the Family. If he claimed not to know, they would wonder about his usefulness.

  J.T. said, “I heard this afternoon that he had been making some personnel changes.”

  A long pause on the other end indicated the caller didn’t share J.T.’s humorous view of the situation. “You mean where he killed three of his own men and the cops killed another four? Did you know Tony Scalla was arrested and Sunrise is being searched as we speak?”

  J.T. didn’t know about Sunrise. “What do you want?”

  “We just took a vote. Lucas is out.”

  “It can’t be me. I’ve got a little heat of my own right now. Nothing serious, but I’m not willing to risk it.”

  “Fine. We’ll put together a team. Send us a list of his assets. He’ll have to pay for this problem.”

  “Done.”

  J.T. hung up and opened his file on Lucas’ assets. He copied the file and sent it to the Family boss. Who said the mob didn’t have a sense of humor? Only in the mob did you pay for your own hit. Every penny in Lucas’ accounts would disappear through a dark web of untraceable offshore transfers.

  J.T. tossed his laptop on the passenger seat. The hit would likely be tomorrow. J.T. turned the ignition and pulled the BMW out of the lot. He checked traffic before turning onto the street and mumbled, “Sucks to be Lucas.”

  ******

  Kevin succeeded in convincing Sharon to stay at Peter’s house until it was safe for her to go home. It warmed his heart to hear Peter, Dolly and Cynthia scream into the phone “Come here!” to Sharon. She had actually teared up hearing their voices. Jen made arrangements for two patrol units to guard Peter’s house. She also put a unit at Sharon’s grandmother’s house, where Sharon actually lived, in case someone showed up there.

  Jen escorted Sharon into Peter’s living room and Dolly made the introductions. Kevin and Darla arrived moments later and Jen had them all sit down for a quick meeting.

  “It might be best if Darla, Dolly and Cynthia go to their own homes tonight. You should all be safe. Every one of us has had a stressful day and needs a good night’s sleep.”

  Dolly glanced at Darla, “You want to stay at my place tonight?”

  “Yep. I figured you’d be scared and all.” Darla got a sneaky smile on her face. “I’ll tell you about a great idea I got for a new business for us.”

  Dolly narrowed her eyes. “Us? You got this idea today, in the middle of chasing kidnappers?”

  “A detective agency! I’m a natural!”

  Dolly looked at Kevin.

  Kevin shrugged and said, “She is pretty good.”

  Darla added, “It’s low overhead, too. All it cost was gas money and a box of Twinkies.”

  Dolly said, “I’m not even askin’.”

  Cynthia looked at Peter, “I should go home, too.”

  Peter took her hand. “Can I call you?”

  Cynthia’s face broke out in a smile.

  Darla said, “For God’s sake, pick a day for a first date and move on! We’re all tired her
e.” Dolly smiled as Darla mumbled, “Crazy fruitcakes.”

  Peter said his ‘good-byes’ and retreated to his room.

  Kevin led Sharon to the kitchen table. He made her a cup of tea and sat down across from her. “I’m not leaving tonight. You take a shower and go to bed. I’ll be right in the living room on the couch. Between Peter, myself and the cops you’ll be safe. We can start working on your story tomorrow. I’m calling Jack to let him know. This is going to be epic.”

  Kevin exhaled and willed his breathing to regulate. Sharon somehow looked both fragile and fearless. “I feel responsible that you ended up in this mess. My God, you were almost killed.”

  Sharon could see the pain in Kevin’s eyes. She felt safe for the first time all day. Kevin made her feel special and safe.

  She leaned across the table and kissed him. Then she stood, took her cup of tea and walked to the guest bedroom and shut the door.

  Kevin still felt the warmth of Sharon’s lips. “Epic.”

  ******

  Jen walked into the 107th precinct to find Wayne and Nick filling up two white boards with info. One board was labeled ‘organs’, one ‘software’. Jen plopped on her chair and twisted it to look at Sam. She hadn’t seen him since early morning.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Sam glanced over, “I.A. has Wayne on desk duty for ‘officer involved shooting’. I just finished up with the crime techs and evidence logs from this morning’s circus.”

  “Yeah, I missed that.” Jen had actually forgotten there had been three men shot at the precinct. They were never going to have the reports done from today. “What can I do to help?”

  Sam looked at his watch, “It’s ten o’clock. Talk Nick into going home. We can start fresh in the morning.”

  Nick heard Sam and turned from the white board. He put his marker on the rack and smiled. “Sam’s right. Let’s start fresh in the morning.”